ROUGH #2 Letter to Reid - seeking further input

[WilliamPitt]

Senator Harry Reid
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Tuesday 01 November 2005

We, the undersigned members of the online community DemocraticUnderground.com, write today to offer our heartfelt thanks and enthusiastic support for the actions you took on the floor of the Senate today. It was an extraordinary day both for the Senate and for our nation.

Courage is hard to come by in politics these days. The members of this community were, to put it mildly, deeply disappointed by the decision of so many Democrats to support Mr. Bush's march to war back in 2003.

What we see now came in no small part because the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it. This was a bitter pill to swallow, and we have since reaped the whirlwind because of it: the outing of a deep-cover CIA agent, the indictment of a high-ranking Bush official because of that act, the horrid reality of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, the billions of taxpayer dollars poured into this mess, the deaths of 2,027 American soldiers, the grievous injuries suffered by tens of thousands more American soldiers, and the deaths of untold numbers of Iraqi innocents.

Yet today, the courage we activists have sought so desperately from the Democrats made itself thunderously evident in your actions. For us, it feels like the dawn breaking after a long, cold, hard winter.

We, the undersigned, stand with you. We applaud your courage. We offer both our moral support as well as any hands-on work we can do to help you in your efforts. DemocraticUnderground is proud to know you, and proud to stand with you. Today, we hope. Tomorrow, we work.

WilliamPitt
DU Member since 2001

[NewJeffCT]

1. great letter

how do we add our signatures to it?

I got the first recommendation!

[WilliamPitt]

2. I will post a thread

that will be the petition, when this is fully vetted.

[ananda]

4. Can you add something about Alito?

nt

[WilliamPitt]

5. Different issue

This was about the war. We will deal with Alito in a diferent manner.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Maybe at the end.. "efforts w/ (such as with the supreme court nominee and

other laundry list items here)

[knowbody0]

3. well worded Mr.Pitt

[NewJeffCT]

6. Aren't we over $300 billion for the cost

Billions just sounds small when you can use the actual figure... I think it is over $300 with the latest amount appropriated for next year. (like they're not going to spend it??)

[Career Prole]

23. Spend it? Of course!

They've already divvied it up.

"One for Iraq...two for Dubya...two for UncaDick...one for Iraq...two for Rummy...five for Pappy..."

[longship]

7. Again. I would sign on to this.

Consider moving the tag line to its own paragraph so it is offset from the rest of the letter.

And welcome back WilliamPitt. It's nice to have a wordsmith in the house.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. I think it has to be "spring" after "winter" or "dawn" after "night"

Dawn breaking after winter is just, well, weird. I say go with "night." It invokes traditional rhetorical images, in any case.

[WilliamPitt]

17. Good point

Fixed.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. Love it, Will. If it were me, I would drop the "deep cover" in front

of CIA agent. I'm not saying that it's not the case, but many don't agree with her NOC classification as being deep cover.

[SeanQuinn]

11. Let's vrooom this into final copy!

Looks good.

[Gregorian]

13. Agreed.

I'll sign. The message is clear.

[Punkingal]

12. Maybe along with what you say in paragraph three,,

something about also having the courage to say the support for the war was wrong. But perhaps that should be saved for after the report comes out? I just so strongly believe they have to start admitting they were wrong to vote for Iraq, and the sooner the better.

[NewJeffCT]

14. I might rephrase this sentence

>>What we see now came in no small part because the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it.<<

maybe came about instead of just came?

Also, you can say that others in the WH are still being investigated for outing Plame.

And, shouldn't it be Spring breaking after a long, cold, hard winter, not dawn? Or, dawn breaking after a long, cold, hard night?

[ewagner]

15. One nit to pick

this line:

"...like the dawn breaking after a long, cold, hard winter.

how 'bout...

"...like the first blossom of spring after a long, cold, hard winter."

or, alternatively:

"...like the first rays of morning after a long, dark night"

[NewJeffCT]

16. ha!

After over 9,000 posts on DU, I finally beat somebody with the same idea as me!

[ewagner]

18. Curses!

foiled again!!!!! :hi:

[cynatnite]

19. I like that much better!

:bounce:

[Lerkfish]

20. Can we add something like the following....

words to the effect of:

We applaud your bravery, even while we realize that standing up for what's right, and thinking of our national security before all else, and our people before politics, is faithfully performing your duties as our representatives.

We appreciate it, but we are also sad that doing this has become UNUSUAL in the beltway.

[pacalo]

21. Where do we sign, where do we sign!

[ClayZ]

22. Nice!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[MuseRider]

24. Wonderful Will and thanks

that is much better than the letter I sent him earlier. You have such a way with words.

[WilliamPitt]

25. THE FINAL HAS BEEN POSTED

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5234972

[Laura PourMeADrink]

26. Good, good. I would add that over 100,000 Iraqis have been killed

by the US.

[donheld]

27. William, Thanks for doing this

:yourock:

[WiseButAngrySara]

28. I weep, I will sign, and recommend. This is beautiful except perhaps

for the statement "the Democrats lined up for the war at exactly the moment they should have opposed it"...while it is true from MY standpoint, I don't think that Democrats should be held responsible for the fear and consequent 'rash' decisions that took place post 9/11, because at that time, no one could have imagined the pre-9-11 build-up to War.

I would like to request that Cheney's Energy Task Force, and his lies to Congress about his reports to the GAO, are impeachable offenses, and should be included in the investigation! In those sequestered documents, I believe that you will find most of the reasons for the lies and obfuscation of truth that sent us to war. Cheney has been way too protective of this. He lied to Congress. He should have been impeached a long time ago. (And the Energy Task Force Documents were prior to 9/11)

[BigBearJohn]

29. My 2¢ I hope you will find some of this worthy to add to the letter.

As Barry Munro once said, "You are only as strong as your purpose, therefore let us choose reasons to act that are big, bold, righteous and eternal."

Senator Reid, today you showed us those reasons. Reasons why we will ALL stand behind you 100%, with everything we have... after all, these are the true reasons we have chosen to call ourselves "Democrat."

Robert C. Savage said "You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him." From this point on, I anticipate an avalanche of opposition from those who only seek to destroy our fine nation. May you never be discouraged.